30 Kisses for Kakashi and Kurenai
by Saoirse the Irish Colleen
Summary: In Kakashi and Kurenai's latest adventure, Kurenai agrees to take part in a little experiment.
1. First Kiss: Look Over There

**A/N: **Kami-sama knows I really should be cramming for finals, _but_ here I am, the procrastinating bitch I am, writing for the 30 Kisses LJ community. And as per the agreement I have to come up with 2 kisses monthly for my coupling, so these will be, at best, drabbles and I hope you enjoy them. Oh yeah, and they're Kakashi/Kurenai. So there.

**Disclaimer: **If I owned this I'd make sure the entire GOP/"Moral Majority" would have vanished off the face of the earth and we'd have our NC-17 fics back up on here.

**30 Kisses for Kakashi and Kurenai**

By Saoirse the Irish Colleen

_First Kiss: "Look Over There." _

What did that Hyuuga Gai was mentoring always say? Oh yes, "You can never escape the fate you were born to." And all that morning Kurenai was inclined to agree with him. Since childhood she had a soft spot for the orphans of ninja killed in action during the war, many of her academy classmates were just that, alone in the world. So when the sensei would request each student on the first day of the new semester to talk a bit about themselves, a number of kids would always become glassy-eyed from unshed tears at the mention of her little sister, Aoko.

Naturally ignorance was bliss and they did not have one iota of understanding of her situation having to look after a toddler with the deportment of a tsunami. Now at 23, Aoko has not bothered with change.

"You still mad at having to pay my bail, Nee-chan?" Kurenai had not meant to stop short in the middle of the street causing a pedestrian to back up at the terror that blackened her sultry red eyes like imposing thunder clouds gathering for the shit storm. Her muscles tense like a steel girder, Aoko blanched to her blonde hairline vacillating on how she could placate her big sister. Which was a simple as bending a steel kunai sans the use of chakra at the moment. "I said I'd pay you back… I just don't remember what happened to my purse…"

"This is not… about money…" The poison-making apprentice swallowed thickly over the stone in her throat and continued to follow her sister presumably home where their parents waited with bated breath. While Kurenai had been independent for a number of years she was expected to endure the impending lecture alongside her younger sister.

Mizuki. Your sister. Keep an eye on her. Three little phrases that the entire thee-hour philosophical diatribe boiled down to. She had not meant to become inattentive during the staff meeting Tsunade was chairing but everyone knew her plight concerning her imouto's situation involving the discipline case Mizuki, some hot sake, and a missing enchanted katana thought to be a treasure once a possession of the Yondaime. An accomplice by circumstance, the gullible little chit. But no one dared voice their reproach, or heads will roll. Aoko was still her sister and although not a ninja, she needed guidance not chastising. Kurenai lingered well after the meeting concluded, Iruka and Shizune her closer and more sympathetic confidants refused to make eye contact with her as they ambled out, Asuma merely scrubbed the back of his head uneasily resting a cigarette on his lower lip, and Gai shook his mushroom-shaped head in a most paternal fashion expressing his disappointment. As expected Kakashi flipped his novel open and sidled out the door opting not to get involved. She was actually thankful for that. He was her sempai and at one time vied for his approval so hungrily. Kurenai beat her fist against the cracked window pane watching the spider web-fine crevices slither from beneath her curled knuckles upon contact.

_Stupid! _She was a jounin for the gods sakes! She should have been more alert! She would cancel training with her cell, speak with Tsunade-sama immediately to put her on the recovery mission, and find Anko to have Mizuki remanded to ANBU's custody. It was the only way to recompense and clear her sister's reputation. Kurenai tented her fingers and pushed off the glass the soles of her open-toed boots thundering over the elderly wooden slatted floor that rocked from her movements.

"Kurenai…" The kunoichi halted in the doorway and turned to see the lazy man who moved as silent and deft as an illusion and she wondered whether or not he was what he always claimed to be. "Look over there."

She started her ruby eyes swung to the left where Kakashi's uncovered eye directed earlier. His mouth clamped over hers and it startled her so that she didn't see him pull the mask down his chin nor close the closet door behind them. There was no escaping your fate after all.

**OWARI**


	2. Second Kiss: News or Letter

**A/N: **This will have some relevance in the Fourth Kiss, so please don't feel like I'm trying to get you lost because I'm being a bitch.

**Disclaimer: **Did I forget to mention that I don't own this crap?

_Second Kiss: "News/Letter"_

It lay there innocent and unsuspecting. The little white envelope marred only by the small, neat black kanji that spelled her name on the back of the triangular lip as though the sender was fearful of spoiling the paper's purity if it were written on the front. Odd, Kurenai thought. Letters were commonly addressed on parchment scrolls, the kind that didn't explode of course. Slicing the kunai through the flap Kurenai gingerly unfolded the note, her crimson eyes scanning the short text back and forth memorizing it and proceeded to destroy it upon instruction. Tearing it to bits and piling the paper in a heavy black lacquer ashtray, Kurenai ignited a spark of chakra from her fingertip and watched as the controlled conflagration devoured the note. Glancing at the clock on her nightstand she only had an hour to get ready.

Swallowed up in a taupe tunic, Kurenai pulled a flap of it across her face protecting her skin from the claws of the arctic blast that was attacking Konohagure. The tall, black marble tablet stood proudly nestled in the piling snow, the stars shone overhead like a canopy of gemstones stitched on black velvet each winking at her, and close enough for her to pick like plums. Kurenai caught the names of her kinsmen on the memorial stone wondering how close or distant they were in blood to her. Her eyes fell on one of those names like the snowflakes catching on the indents of the kanji only to melt and slide down like tears on the icy surface. Yuuhi Ruri, her father's older sister and aunt she never knew. How ashamed she was coming from such a violent culture and Kurenai tremored as some agony telegraphed through her thinly stretched nervous system.

"I'm so glad you came."

The words sliced through Kurenai like an exclamatory bullet and she spun facing the voice's owner. Robed in a brown poncho similar to Kurenai's the woman grinned affably, her peachy cupid's bow perked up at the corners. The woman's auburn bob fluttered mutely, the face angles pulled under tickling her feline brown eyes forcing her to blink. Kurenai screwed her eyes downward to the heliotrope kabuki paint slashes under her defined cheekbones; so cowed of those eyes she wanted to spit, as though her self-hate was the acidic venom gathering between her grinding teeth and her cheek. The woman stepped forward closing the distance of many years and millions of tears between them.

"I'm frightened," she admitted. "He won't listen or speak to me. I _know_ you can reach him." Kurenai turned away, the moonbeams feathery glow doing little to comfort her. Her companion's little speech sounded as though she were trying to convince herself rather than the obstinate scarlet-eyed kunoichi.

"Wakatta."

The dry clumped snow and ice crunched underfoot like bones, bleached and exposed to the elements on the desolate frontlines in the grim aftermath of a climactic battle of an unceasing war. A familiar house in sad disrepair emerged from the grey dullness as the two women trudged up the walk single file, Kurenai bringing up the rear. On the porch was a pair of ANBU standing sentry flanking the closed front door, masked and garbed in their skintight black uniforms accentuating every rigid muscle and plane of their hard maleness. The white body armor contained the violence that had been unleashed several hours earlier on dispatch. Raido and Genma Kurenai instantly recognized and acknowledged them with the faintest of nods as the mounted the steps, they mirrored it and allowed the women admittance.

A solitary lamp was lit and its distance to great from that of the front door where Iruka waved them in closing the door softly behind. As barbaric and unseemly as it was no one had removed their boots on account of the frigid temperature of the floor since the thermostat had not been turned on. Sakura lay in a dead slumber on the beat up green sofa, the living room's sole piece of furniture. Her long pink locks dusted the side of the canvas gently as a cloud. Gai with his turtle mask hanging from his belt laid a meaty hand on Kurenai's slim shoulder and smiled bravely. The beautiful beast volunteered on a mission with his old squadron? Tsunade must have been going all-out. A green and red summoning scroll half the size of her armoire stood in the corner of the room, its long white-haired perverted owner walked through the archway and sat on the sofa careful of undisturbing Sakura's sleep. His moan of relief bespoke the rock Sennin's age.

"You two can go in," Jiraya whispered. They left; Jiraya massaged his closed eyes with his thumb and index finger. A silvery trail of carcinogen snaked its way up looping in the air, Asuma leaned against the wall his flak jacket torn and unzipped hanging open. The hand that he smoked with shook like the last leaf on a dying tree, Kurenai saw the crest he wore about his thick, bodybuilder's waist splattered with blood. Embers dropped to the creases of his uniform shirt without his awareness posed a safety threat… until a pair of nimble slender fingers crushed them out. Yuugao in her ANBU uniform dusted the ashes off Sarutobi's chest to keep herself preoccupied, clusters of her lilac hair looked brittle from the frozen oxidized blood caught in it. The intimacy of the woman's actions as well as the closeness of their bodies did not go unnoticed by Kurenai as she paused. At one time she could have been jealous had Asuma the balls to give up the cancer sticks, but that was not what fate had planned. Into a room they entered and Kurenai knew it fairly well… and nearly screamed at what greeted her eyes. Laid out on a futon was Sasuke, unconscious or asleep she did not know, Anko delicately rolled him to the side to inspect the cursed seal on his back with Ibiki hovering over her. The hexing kanji that fanned like a spider web was restrained within the black circle thanks to the anti-evil spell Jiraya invoked held steadfast. Breath laboring like a wolf was the leader of the famous genin triad, Naruto beneath the shuriken duvet his eyes clamped shut ensnared in a nightmare, sweat matting his blonde spikes to the pillow. Like a penitent mother hen sat the Godaime, wisps of her ash blonde hair mussed every which way as she rocked back and forth on the rickety chair.

"Tsunade-sama…" Kurenai's companion pressed a warm hand on the green silk-covered shoulder grasping the attention of the Niidaime's granddaughter.

He knelt on one knee at what she assumed was an attack stance at the foot of his bed, his dog mask nowhere to be seen transfixed on his students. "Kakashi," Kurenai said. He looked up, the absence of his material mask made her wince.

_Sakumo._

She doubted his sanity and doubted hers for that matter but nonetheless did what they expected of her.

"It's going to be alright…"

**OWARI**


	3. Third Kiss: Jolt!

**A/N: **Although I'm not quite sure what the third theme actually refers to, I'll just roll with it and see what happens.

**Disclaimer: **You should know this one by now.

_Third Kiss: "Jolt!" _

It fell like a burning turret during an Arthurian conflict tearing concrete and shattering glass as easily as a scissor blade slicing through a milk carton. Muzzily Kakashi got to his feet in the five foot deep gulch carved by his plummeting body and studied Gai's handiwork. The telephone pole cut neatly through the topmost floor of the academy with bits of the roof falling in perilously since the room it came to a halt in was a class. The chuunin instructor who was in the middle of teaching a henge incredulously stuck her head out of the demolished window which was nothing more than a gaping hole that seemed like a wrecking ball created.

"Ah! Ware! Ware! It seems that our passionately youthful clash has resulted in a bit of damage to our alma mater!" Gai gushed apologetically. Kurenai spluttered thinking of the kids that were huddled like ducklings in the back of the classroom from what they feared was their impending doom. A cloud of smoke dissipated and the eternal rivals began to inspect their demolition work. A water main cracked above was spewing a sprinkling of rain producing puddles of water their boots splashed in getting Kurenai's skirt and legs wet as she flit around. One of the deeper pools carried something else, a thick torn cable floating like a dead asp, only to see its exposed fangs crackle with camouflaged venom. Her scarlet lips prettily arched in a smirk.

"Kakashi-sempai," the jounin picked his silver spiked head and blinked at the ruby-eyed vixen knowing his slapdash posture was infuriating her judging by the kunoichi's twitching bent left knee. "Would you please knock out that glass pane?" She pointed around to the left side of the pole. "The broken tips are too dangerous to be left alone."

"Hai, hai…" Drawing a kunai from his thigh holster he proceeded to walk about the wooden stump and frame when his right foot dropped into the water with the buoyant wire in it. His screams could be heard as far as Takikagure, and Kakashi's accidental release of chakra purely a reactionary reflex from electrocution set off rolling blackouts for the next week.

**OWARI**


	4. Fourth Kiss:Our Distance and That Person

**A/N: **Well if you're a Trekkie bitch like I am, you'll recognize this kiss as the deleted second rape scene between Counselor Troi and Shinzon in the turbolift in _TNG: Nemesis_. This also is related to the second kiss.

**Disclaimer: **Na Kishimoto, I have some J-pop CDs and $5 bucks. Wanna trade?

_Fourth Kiss: "Our Distance and That Person"_

"He didn't complete the field report from his cell's last mission." Iruka thrust a soy sauce-stained scroll in Kurenai's face. Caught off guard and cornered like a doe in headlights she stared down the chuunin running the mission desk. Iruka busied himself kneeling behind the wood piling scrolls and files on the desktop. "You're heading in Kakashi's direction. Just drop it off at the house." His curt order miffed the jounin as he took an abrasive liberty with his superior position at the shinobi headquarters. Then again she felt a similar empathy for Iruka as she did Shizune as they took on so much of the tedious grunt work from their betters who so blithely abused their post-battle duties. Of course Kurenai did no such thing as she spent her days off and sleepless nights scrupulously completing her paperwork.

When had the pervert moved back into his family's house no one knew. And why was a whole other affair they chose not to dabble in. The Hatake home was falling into serious disrepair from a sinking porch, overgrown garden, and a roof that showered shingles. Then again Kakashi primarily inhabited in his bedroom with little use for anything else, save the kitchen for sustenance. Bringing up her left foot to scratch her right calf, Kurenai's fingers contracted on the weathered brass doorknob but instead dragged her hand up to clutch the darkened doorknocker. She rapped forcefully and waited the customary sixty seconds. Her hypersensitive ninja hearing picked up on vibrating footsteps from deep within, there was a chance he did not hear, but if she were Tsunade she would bet a month's salary on Kakashi ignoring her what with his canine-esque senses.

Kurenai justified her rude entrance due to Kakashi's signature snubbing by her little display of daring intruding on the excruciatingly private copy nin's precious personal space.

"Well looks like you did it again, Hatake!" Kurenai announced strolling to the kitchen where she heard the sound of rushing tap water. "Pissing off the dolphin teacher like that won't sit well with Tsunade-sama considering Shizune-chan will threaten to strike if her koibito isn't shown respect even by you! Not that you'd understand any of it…" Waving an arrogant hand like royalty Kurenai swayed into the late afternoon sun-drenched alcove preparing her verbal assault hoping for its success taking Kakashi down a notch. "Still," she shot, "I have better ways to spend my off-hours rather than coming here to watch you-" Her words were caught in gridlock as she clamped her teeth down. One hand in soapy water and naked to the waist in a pair of old sweats Kakashi stood, guppy-mouthed at Kurenai. The woman standing adjacent of them was wrapped in a tiny towel, purple as her face paint. The perfumed warm water beaded on her creamy skin falling to little puddles about her feet like the childish tears Kurenai once shed about this house and the unfortunates who occupied it throughout her lifetime.

Evocative of Hinata, Rin's pale kiss-swollen mouth robotically opened and closed like a malfunctioning doll until she gave up and chose to keep still, her sweet brown eyes studying her toes. Donning her fangirl mask as easily as Kakashi does his, Kurenai smirked provocatively but failed abysmally since her amusement did not reach her alluring garnet eyes.

"_Definitely_, the Erojiji was your sensei." She flashed the victory sign. "Well this is yours," Kakashi's scroll sailed past him splashing into the sink spattering detergent-laced grease water into his mismatched eyes. He was unfazed. "Don't do anything I wouldn't! Ja!" Kurenai phase shifted out of sight. Throwing open his front door Kakashi got as far as the first step.

"Kurenai!"

The trees were a windswept blur of greens and browns as she flew from one bough to the next, her feet no longer touching the wood. _'Atashi wa no baka!'_ This went on for an undetermined duration until she felt the burn from lack of oxygen in her lungs fill like fire spewing from a napalm cannon into a closet. The unfamiliar glen she reached was delimited by a copse of white birch wood blotting out the fading sunlight into slits of ochre slashing the ground. Stumbling around the small area she gleaned that there was no visible egress and her suspicions kicked into high gear, she was the genjutsu genius with a rarer bloodline than the Sharingan. Kunai in hand she primed for battle scanning the full circle about her.

"Yuuhi… Kurenai…" She gasped and yelped whipping her raven hair wildly about seeing a figure behind her that she did not see just seconds ago. Facing him she shrunk away as he advanced like a cobra they circled one another like vultures around carrion. The red lined black mantle woven with red clouds dusted the grounds majestically, its high collar concealing his face reminiscent of Shino split apart as his left hand swept an arc in the air. Kurenai could see the whirling toma in his fully developed Sharingan and immediately averted her own red gaze recalling how he fired her own genjutsu back at her when she successfully trapped him in her demon tree. The prickling of the evolving Tsukiyomi slashing her psychic jugular threatened looking into his deceitful youthful and beautiful visage making her wonder at his age. "I am always with you… aisuru…"

"You're not real." She punctured the air with her kunai. "You're not here!" Kurenai hissed. Her back met a tree roughly tearing at the white material of her wrap dress from its coarse mars and bumps.

"I can make you for get all about him," he enticed, his clammy tapered white fingers uncurled to brush the backs of them tenderly athwart her jaws. "Hatake was always a useless bastard," the weasel spoke of his former ANBU teammate.

"No…" A helpless moan issued from her parched throat. Itachi curled his lip as only just a few more seconds were needed for that final push for rage to win the battle for him.

"I can feel your hunger…" He cradled her chin lovingly between his thumb and fore and middle fingers, hovering his lips hot and hard aloft hers. "Your need for me to teach you the Uchiha ways… the old ways…" Her violet eyelids dropped and saw a moving screen of erotic images behind them. Naked flesh intersecting as she was tied down fondled and fucked as she darkly desired. Every schoolgirl fantasy she ever salivated over lay in the facets of that red jewel resting on the palm of his hand. Her rage and yearning taken out on beautiful, overpowering shinobi she would dominate. Her encapsulating feminine warmth throttling their cocks to bursting, pulling their hair making them know she was more woman than they bargained for.

'_I am a woman!'_

Gratingly slow she dragged her thumb up her kunai's diamond-shaped blade and pierced the flesh. Her blood exposed to air made the shallow wound sting and saved her from becoming an Akatsuki slave all because of her insignificant timidity and immature disappointment.

"You're… not… _real!_" She hurled Itachi backward with a combo knee thrust and elbow strike shattering the illusion like glass shards between slabs of gold. Itachi flicked his lengthy black ponytail to swish silkily as his phantom vanished into a dissolving birch. Kurenai dropped to her knees in a grove in the Forest of Death, her pants reckless sobs and she screamed triumphantly and petrified.

Laid out on the examination table surrendering to the soothing warmth of Sakura's green chakra scanning her for injury, gliding her fanned hands up and down her body Kurenai finally felt secure. Hinata stood behind the pink-haired medic nin, poking her index fingers together a nervous habit that she was unable to break. Ibiki stood leaning against the door, Anko and Asuma in quiet conference as he was the one to find her unconscious on the forest floor. Tsunade supervised her diligent apprentice with unconcealed fury in her lovely face. Shikamaru on one knee, his fingers steepled and eyes closed in deep reflection. Shino and Lee arrived moments earlier; Naruto would be on their heels anxious for news. Yuugao slipped in to whisper in Ibiki's ear and took a seat. The door opened once more and Neji, Tenten, Choji, Ino, Kiba and Naruto filed in. While only several of them were promoted to chuunin he would be damned if they did not include him on this mission.

"All right sensei…" Kurenai sighed as Sakura assisted her in sitting up. "Aside from elevated levels of adrenaline and serotonin, you're physically fine."

"Kurenai," Ibiki stepped into the wan yellow fluorescent light, "I have to ask you in, detail, what occurred on training grounds 44." Kurenai would not meet the scarred man's stony stare as the torture and interrogation master knew at that moment she was transparent from the roiling emotions that were churning in her psyche. She pressed her pale rose lips in a firm straight line and swallowed audibly, when six more joined their group. She was just able to suppress a glare at the happy couple that walked in last.

"It was… a violation."

"Please elucidate." Ibiki's tone was flat but he was going about his job strictly adhering to procedure. However this was no time to spare her dignity both as a woman or a ninja for the safety of Konoha was at stake. For it was the first lesson of her nindou.

"The assailant utilized jutsu to entrap and engage me." Her use of clinical and antiseptic terms allowed Kurenai a bit of respite to disassociate herself from her rape. Anko was the next to speak as she dropped a fist on the space beside Kurenai.

"Was it bunshin or henge?"

"Both. A genjutsu was used to disorient and lure me into a vulnerable position. I was caught and unable to decipher a way out of the illusion. I can say without uncertainty that he used a kage bunshin when he attacked me. I resisted, and when I broke the genjutsu, a henge replaced the clone and vanished." The tokubetsu jounin nodded tossing a glance at her superior who inclined his head in unanimity. Kurenai filled her lungs with the fresh air that was wafting through the open window bracing herself for the killing blow.

"Could you identify the ninja who did this?" Ibiki inquired.

It escaped her lips in whoosh. "Uchiha Itachi." For a split second the sound of a butterfly alighting a grass blade could be heard in that room, but the violent tension that gathered shared the density of wet concrete. Naruto blew off a bloodthirsty howl.

"KUROSHIME! TEMME!" It was no simple feat to restrain the orange-clad blonde from jumping out the window. Kyuubi no Yoko was murderous and had to be sated. Jiraya was about to intervene since Kiba and Choji were losing the battle until a green blur whipped like a dervish past him hurling Naruto to the far end of the room, slamming his back into the stone wall creating a crevasse traveling up and crosswise going left and right. His blonde head slumped to his left shoulder as a grunt escaped his breath.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted running to his aide but all focus was on the chuunin pulling taut the slackening bandages on his left fist.

"Lee…" Gai murmured. His star pupil dropped his now dormant hand to his side.

"Naruto-kun, we all share your anger. But acting irrationally will not help us in this war that has cost us already one life." Sakura closed her green eyes moist from tears. "Kurenai-sensei's tragedy is the starting point of our mission and if we are to avenge her honor we must begin by preserving our own. For the battlefield awaits our arrival without fear… and then we will have truly earned the glory." Genma's senbon dangled by the saliva coating his lower lip, Asuma's cigarette burned down to the butt without him caring, and Neji's right brow quirked the semblance of emoting after nearly sixteen years of repression. Rin burned twin lasers into Gai's jounin flak jacket and Kakashi simply shut his eyes as his eternal rival shed crocodile tears. Lee soldiered over to the fallen Naruto receiving care for his inconsequential wound, hunched down on his knees and held out his hand complete with a winning smile.

"Oy, Geijimayu," Naruto slammed his hand into Lee's in an arm wrestler's clasp. The muscles of both boys outlined clearly beneath their sleeves making Hinata's opal eyes widen to the size of platters. Neither would break the other's iridescent stare. "You're a real schmuck." Lee hauled Naruto to his feet and thumped him twice on the back. Naruto confronted Ibiki, arms akimbo feet shoulder width apart. "So scarface, what say you?" He sneered. Ibiki's ebony gaze fixed on the aquamarine crystal on the black silk thong that once rested between Tsunade's plentiful bosoms on Naruto's black mesh-covered toned chest. The bear-like man sighed the sigh of the long suffering.

"Gear up and be at the gate in one hour, or don't bring your sorry asses all." He vacated the room as quickly as possible. Naruto pumped a fist leaping in the air.

"Yatta! All right men let's move out!"

"You're not Hokage yet, dobe!" Kiba erupted Akamaru's yips backed him up.

"Temme!" The room broke out into a flurry of activity, cells and senseis rushed out or stayed behind to plan. Tsunade's rosebud mouth pulled up in a prideful smirk at her finest, but thunder crashed behind her sepia eyes as the clique she was waiting to isolate began to break up.

"You four clowns!" She barked her blonde pigtails flew up from the force of her cry sending invisible fuuma shuriken to pin them all down. Genma, Raido, Gai and Kakashi stopped dead in their tracks. "Kurenai, Anko you're with me."

"Tsunade-sama…" The Godaime did not hear Kurenai as she stormed down the hall into an empty office. Anko ushered her off the table and followed their liege. The four ANBU appeared first in a communal cloud of smoke.

"You," she brandished her finger like a katana addressing the men, "get your war paint on. You'll be taking the low road for the success of this mission." Anko and Kurenai joined them on the briefing. "We need a medic." On cue Rin meekly opened the door silently asking permission for access. "Thank you for volunteering Rin."

"H- hai." Tsunade was about to lay the blueprints of the mission when Kurenai interpolated breathlessly.

"Tsunade-sama, I request to be removed from active duty. I have become a liability for not only this mission but to Konoha as well and request to be confined to my living quarters." Tsunade shook her head adamantly.

"Request denied. Kurenai, if you can tolerate these attacks by Itachi we have gained a tactical advantage."

"How so?" The Yuuhi refused to back down from Fire Country's champion.

"With you out in the open as bait we can spread a net and you need do is have a bit of patience."

"It figures." Kurenai flounced from the room slamming the door behind her. Anko went after her friend the crackle of Kurenai's chakra did not go unnoticed when Rin stepped into the room.

In the women's locker room Kurenai lobbed her balled-up wrap dress into a laundry bin. She tore through the wrappings on her thighs, hips and hands with a kunai and peeled off her red trimmed black mesh tank before stepping into the shower.

"I brought what you asked," Anko called over the loud scathing spray setting a red gym bag on a long oak bench.

"Domo." The ancient knobs creaked shutting off the water. Kurenai emerged into the changing area by the lockers and used a jutsu to dry her body and hair. Stepping into red cotton bikinis and pulling over tiny black mesh shorts over them she began speaking. "I realize that I was always the weakest link, but I do not appreciate being made fun of."

"You're not weak Kurenai."

"No?" Over her head went the red sports bra. "How long have I been a jounin Anko?"

The violet-haired woman answered that question with one of her own. "Didn't you say that you were happy being a chuunin?"

"What does that have to do with it?"

"And didn't you say that the Sandaime forced the jounin exam on you because he needed the bodies on the field?" Kurenai slid on the standard-issue jounin gloves slamming her fist into the opposite palm for to mollify the tight blue leather. "And didn't you say that the only reason Morino was getting pissed at you was because of your near purposeful forfeits during the exams?" Kurenai smoothed the pliant Lycra and cotton of her mock turtleneck sleeveless crimson mini dress, strapped on a thigh holster, and zipped up her jounin flak jacket.

"Your point is Anko?" She applied a coating of Vampish on her lips.

"My point is girlfriend… what's going on with you, the mousy medic and the copy perv?" Kurenai beatifically clicked her compact shut sliding it and her lipstick on her pack before shouldering it.

"Nothing at all."

Several miles into the forest the group of seven watched Jiraya, Asuma, and Iruka lead their hodgepodge of genins and chuunins into the great unknown as they commenced their shadow op. Garbed in black and white with their masks down Raido, Gai and Genma dispersed into the trees to tail the three kunoichi. Kakashi stopped Kurenai and she told Anko to go on up ahead. As soon as the tokubetsu was out of an earshot Kakashi was confident about clearing the air between them.

"I want to apologize to you, Kurenai." She had not turned to face him and the only acknowledgement he got was an angle of her head.

"Don't bother Kakashi. We both know how you really feel anyway." And once again the lady in red made a fool out of him.

**OWARI**


	5. Fifth Kiss: Ano sa

**A/N: **The next two kisses have been inspired by the _Naruto _fanart of Technoelfie. You can find her work on Deviantart!

_Fifth Kiss: "Ano sa…"_

_'Yuuhi Kurenai here. I'm not home right now, so please leave a message!'_

BEEP!

_'It's me. Sorry I didn't make it last night, I know I should have called first or sent a messenger bird… Ano sa we still on for drinks… and dessert? Call me please.'_

BEEP!

_'Okay! Okay! I get it, so can we stop the silent treatment? I promise I won't grope you anymore in the scroll room. But how was I supposed to know Iruka-sensei was on the late shift? Never stopped us before. Ano sa, call me?'_

BEEP!

_'Ano sa, I think your parents really like me! But your mom was kinda right, it would have been nice if you invited me to stay for breakfast… and your dad makes a mean rice pilaf… Come to think of it, how didn't they hear us last night? Did you put up a jutsu? Anyway, I'll meet you for lunch at the sushi place. I won't be late.'_

BEEP!

_'I promise you I don't know how that ended up there! You know that Jiraya can be anywhere and everywhere, and it was **your** idea to meet for sex in the onsen. Ano sa, you could have just worn that little red French maid costume like suggested… besides, they don't even look like us! And don't listen to whatever trash Genma spouts. He used to be my subordinate, remember? Don't be mad please…'_

BEEP!

_'I'm sorry the weekend got screwed up… you know why. Ano sa, I'll make it up to you. This guy I knows owes me a favor, tickets to the Toyama Ai concert maybe? I'll see you when I get back…'_

BEEP!

Kurenai pulled the plug on the answering machine and wrapped the wire around its grey plastic shell. It was all she had during his lengthy, classified absences. She soundlessly opened her bathroom door and padded back to the bedroom. Kurenai leapt from rooftop to rooftop after hearing that last message, easily slipping through the traps climbing through his bedroom window. She saw his jounin blues folded meticulously on a wicker chair with woven plastic threads frayed, sticking out like wet dog's hair. The black body suit and white armor was missing, she knew. Kurenai brought the mock turtleneck shirt to her face and inhaled. The combination of softener, mown grass and something unique to Kakashi's flesh wafted musically up her nostrils. Kurenai doubled over surrendering to sobs like a child begging her parent not to abandon her at the academy gates for the first day of school. She was petrified at the 'what ifs' that accompanied his ANBU mask.

And shamefully as though he was rebuking her at that moment Kurenai stood up, gathering her wits and folded the tear-soaked shirt setting it back on his chair. It was nothing so simple to get acclimated to, and Kakashi evaded romance in favor of unabashed perversion making women repel yet intrigued by him. They sought his favor still, opening their mouths and legs for him whenever it suited him. Kurenai was a searcher, and one of her more desperate finds was permanence. Kakashi was a more trustworthy bedmate with his comfort of sexuality. Kurenai was fare more willing with him than her previous partners, given that added jolt to adrenaline that fear can only produce. Her wistful smile at the shuriken print green duvet took her back to that morning where Kakashi lay on his front, face buried in the pillow. He resembled a fallen angel, the sword kicked somewhere beneath the bed.

_'Come back to bed.' _Kakashi's plea was nothing more than a muffled grunt. Kurenai kept puttering about the wet, steam-heady bathroom. The tiny enclosure was thick with the aroma of lavender and aloe soap.

_'I have a meeting.' _She rebuffed him unraveling a red towel gathering errant streaks of moisture on her tight skin.

_'Teachers are allowed to play hooky every now and again.' _Kurenai sighed haplessly flinging down the towel pounding the threadbare carpeting cruelly.

_'You have ten minutes.' _Kurenai resented herself darkly for giving in so readily.

_'I can be done in five.'_

_'As if I'd let you.' _Kurenai missed her meeting and not cared a whit. She awoke alone, her dream-dazed body still reeling from the sensations and caresses her body and spirit has craved for too many years. She should have sensed it by Kakashi's odd behavior; he never awoke before she did- ever. Touching her fingers to her lips she relived the vibrations of their lovemaking, his fondling and kisses lingered heavy and moist on her flesh as though he was trying to commit all to memory. Kurenai slid off her wrap dress and slit her full-body bandages climbing naked into his bed. Securely between the crisp sheets sliding coolly over her limbs she was asleep inhaling his enigmatic scent from the pillows as the sun was slowly swallowed by the citrus and honey sky transforming into the magenta then black of night.

**OWARI**


	6. Sixth Kiss: The Space Between

_Sixth Kiss: The Space between Dream and Reality_

He felt his lungs compress then expand from the confinement then escape of air. He was a lonely dune amidst a dust storm, his feelings being whipped and whirled in his consciousness. Kurenai was slowly expending her energy pouring all of her chakra into generating genjutusus. Kakashi's mind was thoroughly scrambled; she was successful in making him retreat for the abandoned shrine. It served its purpose for this exercise, now it was his turn.

The animalian drawling moan from the floorboard on the veranda alerted him of her arrival. Cloaking himself in darkness, Kakashi crouched low with a summoning scroll poised between a pair of raised fingers. The tattered shoji parted and Kurenai's red and green form materialized, he recalled Galatea and the myth of her rebirth from her sculptor's love and devotion from lifeless ivory marble. Kurenai too was reborn from cynicism and blood to this almost volatile phoenix who tasted the vibrancy of the human soul, imbibing it like nectar sapped from the tree of life. The swell of pride behind his schooled features belied the schoolboy excitement Kakashi was not entirely sure he ever experienced. Kurenai scanned with her red eyes the blackness for any camouflaging, she could detect none, and even stranger was the absence of a chakra signature that had been present seconds earlier.

Kakashi wasn't branded by ANBU because of dumb luck; he was a genius as much as she was loathe to admit it. Centering her spirit, Kurenai began a series of breathing exercises, then her hands blurred through hand seals. He was just able to identify the string and activated his sharingan reflexively. The tearing of a scroll alerted Kurenai to Kakashi's emergence; she fell into a defensive stance and prayed.

"KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU! DOTON: TSUIGA NO JUTSU!" The ground vibrated then split rupturing wood and earth as Kakashi's eight Ninken exploded from the dirt charging her. When she saw the largest canine, a black pit bull roughly the size of a small car become airborne, Kurenai swiped the ball of her thumb over her sharpest tooth piercing the flesh.

"KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!"

Tomomichi, a retired ninja who wiled away his days fishing at the lake smiled at his catch. Half dozen rainbow trout, he and Anzu-chan would be feasting tonight. He felt a skip in his step come on and let himself savor the pleasures of gloating in his success. But as he crossed the deer path to the old shrine he was blown back by a tsunami's force of chakra through a tree, his dinner swinging on a branch snapped in half hanging together by a thread of bark.

"What… was… that?"

The shrine was now piles of debris tossed about as though the aftermath of a hurricane. The Ninken froze in their tracks, beady eyes fixed heavenward as they saw a white Bengal tiger, roughly the size of a house snarling at them baring its fangs. Kurenai stood on its plush furred back, a smug look of triumph enhancing her pretty visage. The feline summons dropped her jaws and let loose a mighty roar that blew a wind tunnel of an arctic blast sending the yapping dogs back to their realm. When the dust cleared and all that remained was a frosted Kakashi slumped on his knees in the middle of the field, Kurenai dropped off the tiger's back and bowed, thanking her for her assistance. The summons inclined her head and vanished. The temperature slowly began to rise and the snow melted from Kakashi's sweat-damp uniform and grass, slicking it sloppily. He saw a blatant opening and unhindered by Kurenai's last assault he rushed her. Predicting this Kurenai smirked and performed a seal to one of her simpler henges.

Kakashi stopped short when he saw Kurenai drop to the grass on all fours. The kunai he brandished was limp in his fingers as his hand fell to his side. She crawled to him on baby knees and smooth palms shrouded in a chiton of sheer white. He could clearly see her swinging breasts from the gaping material sloshing around her narrow frame, thighs wet and she was ready for him.

"C'mon Kakashi-kun," she enticed, "quit being stubborn and put that away." She smiled, the heliotrope paint stripes rising on her apple cheeks. "Come and play with me…" Rin's ruddy eyes glimmered in the fading sunshine and she licked her lips reaching for him. That was cruel, even for Kurenai. Kakashi sheathed the kunai in his thigh holster and reached around to dip his fingers in his white pouch.

"You win," he slouched cracking open _Icha Icha Tactics_ just to spite her. Kurenai goggled behind Rin's face. Kakashi sauntered by already engrossed in another depraved tale. Oooh… were those the Tethers of Trust? "But to be honest, I'd like to see you wearing that."

**OWARI**


	7. Seventh Kiss: Superstar

**A/N: **Incidentally, Toyama Ai is a famous Japanese soprano who is most likely known to American anime fans as "Kakyuu-ohi", from the _Sailor Moon SeraMyu _musicals.

**Disclaimer: **As you know none of this belongs to me, especially the songs _Onna no Ronsou _performed by Hosaka Yuko (Sailor Pluto) and Miyazawa Akiko (Queen Beryl) and _Broken Möbius (Talisman Version) _performed by Hosaka Yuko (Sailor Pluto), Uchida Asako (Sailor Uranus) and Inami Tomoko (Sailor Neptune) from the _SeraMyu _musicals. And _Glass no Kamen _is the creative property of Miuchi Suzue.

_Seventh Kiss: Superstar_

Undercover operations were to be handled as though it was an ANBU mission being executed. But there were times when Kurenai wanted to waste Tsunade-sama. This time was just that. Anko seemed to be enjoying herself, mostly because of the catering services and the fully-stocked bar for the after parties. But the one thing that got Kurenai's hackles rising were the costumes, the refits and repairs were worse than putting the damn things on. She had never seen so much Mylar and spangles since the Daimyo married his oldest son off and their wedding celebrations rivaled Mardi Gras. The tacky garnet paste jewels that hung off her were weighty and the clip-on earrings frequently got tangled with the long black wig. The only thing Kurenai was grateful for was her prop; it concealed scrolls and kunai with some minor adjustments.

The recurrent dimming of lights in the theatre rendering it black as pitch got everybody on edge. Whoever had it in for the Sakurai Theatre's owner was apt to strike during the scene changes. Gai, Asuma and Yuugao were up in the rafters nearest to the spotlights and strobe lights, they had an optimum view, disguised in gaffer uniforms were Raido and Genma above the stage on the catwalks no wider than a few feet. Yuki-hime was gracious enough to give everyone else in a crash course in method acting while on break from the _Icha Icha Tactics _set. Jiraiya halted production himself citing scripting differences. But Kurenai wanted to throttle Raido when he suggested her for this mission; she knew using the karaoke system in the bar was an omen. The theatre's surround sound blasted her ears with the effects and canned scoring. Her mic had been plaguing her with a myriad of troubles, the constant crackling from shoddy maintenance or the battery pack sewn into the back of her ruffled black and indigo layer skirt. Her cue was coming up soon, and the recorded laser blast detonated shaking the stage to its foundation.

"Why did you save me!" Anko demanded from her huddled spot on the floor in her amethyst faux fur trimmed gown, a flurry of black iridescent material pooled around her.

"So it seems…" Kurenai declared getting to her feet with her Time Key, "…that this is what fate chooses for the both of us." The music crescendoed before falling to the beginning of their poignant duet.

_Dareka_ _wo honki de aishita toki ni_

_Hajimete_ _kokoro no katachi ga mieru_

_Anata ga aishita sono hito wo_

_Kanawanu_ _mama ni watashi mo aishite_

_Kodoku_ _no katachi wo mitsuzukemashita_

Absently Anko pushed her hand through the wavy fire engine red mermaid wig to brush her fingers against the branded flesh by Orochimaru's juin seal. The audience would believe it to be a choreographed gesture of sorts.

_Fukaki_ _sadame to shinjita ai wo_

_Muzan_ _na uragiri de ayameraretara_

_Kono_ _mi wo sasaeru no wa nikushimi dake_

_Watashi ni totte nikumu koto wa aisuru koto_

Just beyond Kurenai's shoulder was Kakashi, stooping, dressed in a gold mantle and black tuxedo. The stubborn embers struggling to breathe among the ashes of her broken heart suddenly were fanned with heat as though exposed to the sun.

_Ai no keshin no nikushimi naraba_

_Mou_ _ichido ai ni kaeshite_

Incensed, Anko stiffened her shoulders as though she got a faceful of acid from her dearest friend.

_Ai wo kouta koto mo nai onna ni_

_Kono_ _kanashimi ga wakaru mono ka _

Kurenai closed her eyes from Anko's entreaty because standing above them was a dazzling vision in angel wings and rainbows. Rin in blonde pigtails and odangos lowered her eyes and bit her pink glittering lower lip. Kurenai was hovering on the edge just as Kakashi was. She was just an entirely different shade of darkness, however if he was unwilling to care anymore, then she was. If he was not going to pursue Sasuke, then she was. Reaching up to grasp the hilt of her key below the Garnet Orb, Kurenai slammed the stub into the parquet with a resonant bang and proudly stood to her full height in the black boots. She was a kunoichi, and had something precious to protect, it filled her, fueled her and was all around her even if she did not know it.

_Wakarimasu_ _to mo_

_Kataranu_ _ai mo kanashii mono..._

"I've had enough of this!" A voice exploded. Kurenai's red eyes widened, but not from surprise. A woman, one of the company garbed in her crimson and red costume that was so tight it looked spray painted on her long, lovely limbs. Her crow wings were constructed of delicate crepe and silk and in her hand was the gold sapphire cuff bracelet, the Velcro strips pulled apart to reveal a detonator. "It's real," she reassured them striding up and down the stage. The audience trembled at the edge of their seats, wistfully gleeful as this must be a recent evolution of the script. Was someone graduating?

"I promise you… if you do not let me by, I'll swallow you all in flames." The ninjas' defensive circle tightened blocking her off to the left where the philandering owner hid. "I was promised a star… but left hanging in a black hole…" Her resolve was wavering and voice cracking, Kurenai spotted her sole chance.

"Listen to yourself… so weak… Don't you know that darkness feeds on the flagging human spirit?" Lead Crow retreated a few paces back.

"What do you mean?"

"The path to revenge is a wasted effort." Sakura announced stepping out from behind the curtain. Her Space Sword gleamed deadly beneath the hot lights, it was no tin fake.

"Even the most beautiful rose has its thorns," Ino said advancing on Crow. "But will you let it grow wild and destroy the garden?" Reflected in the Aqua Mirror, Kurenai saw the gauntlets hidden beneath Ino's wrist-length gloves.

"Stop this," Kurenai ordered Crow. "Stay strong and show up the one who has done you wrong by staying strong. Believe me, there is life after love." Lead Crow did not look entirely convinced, and hers was a hair trigger finger over the red button.

"What would you know about it?" She snorted. "What will you do about it?" She challenged them. They closed in on her.

_Hoshi no hikari wo mi ni ukete_

_Senshi_ _ni kakushita kono bishou_

_Furueru_ _seiza wa densetsu no_

_Koi wo mamore to tsutaeru ka_

Sakura didn't like to be dismissed so easily and she hoisted her sword.

_Kaze wo kiri shougeki no_

Ino spun the mirror like a six shooter in a spaghetti western smiling cruelly.

_Umi_ _wo kake maimodoru_

Kurenai raised her Time Key aloft her head and gyrated it like a bo, priming her hidden weapons.

_Toki wo yobi kangeki no_

Each woman singing to her own individual rhythm, the sound harmoniously converged as their voices joined as one.

_Yami wo saku mabushisa de_

The three were poised and lethal as they circled Lead Crow, and no longer did they need callous men to provide balance in their lives.

_Tsutaeyou_ _uchuu no shimei wo_

_Kokuu_ _ni kizamu SILHOUETTE_

_Broken Möbius_

_Mugen_ _kidou_

_Midnight_ _Soldiers_

_Mugen_ _idou_

_Tsutaeyou_ _shinpi no densetsu_

_Jikuu_ _wo kizamu TALISMAN_

_Broken Möbius_

_Mugen_ _kidou_

_Midnight_ _Soldiers_

_Mugen_ _idou_

_Take pride in outside soldiers_

"Protected by the Sky God, the Soldier of Flight, Sailor Uranus!" Sakura announced.

Ino bat her eyes and leered prettily. "Protected by the Sea God, the Soldier of Tenderness, Sailor Neptune!"

Kurenai walked with pride and took center stage. "Protected by the Time God, the Soldier of Revolution, Sailor Pluto!"

Ino let an exploding scroll fly going off midair in a cloud of white and disoriented Crow. Sakura sliced the prop bracelet and detonator within neatly in two. Kurenai spun her right leg punting Crow into the far wall behind the curtain bringing down the bricks with a sonorous crash, Gai and Asuma dressed in Shitennou costumes accosted her limp form and hauled her away. The audience erupted in ecstatic cheers and applause.

At the final number as all the cast- save for Lead Crow- took their bows the audience gave Kurenai a standing ovation and cheered the loudest over the booming techno-rock overture. She stood taking her bows, as that was all she could really do, standing breathless unable to properly thank them. She was bereft of words. Kakashi stood back, as was proper, and watched Kurenai. He was amazed at how far she had come, and she hadn't even reached the peak of her abilities yet. And like the hero in musicals, she was the last to understand this.

The following week was as silent as a rock garden. Kurenai was thankful that she had the free time to get to all that filing that she neglected and left to pile on her desk. Then the package arrived. It was wrapped in harmless brown paper and was as heavy as an average-sized paperback novel. Kurenai shrugged tearing the thing open, slitting it at the triangular lip and carefully slid the object out. It was a brand new script, the binding fresh with a purple cover. The kanji and kana looked familiar, and then she instantly recalled all those yellowing, dust-ridden manga sitting at the bottom of her bookshelf. _Glass no Kamen_, she flipped open the cover and inside a folded note on a bit of white paper. The handwriting belonged to the loutish theatre owner who managed to escape the talons of death at the hands of a scorned plaything.

'_The role is yours. "Kurenai Tennyo" has a nice ring to it, ne?'_

Kurenai smirked then dropped the script into the waste basket at the side of her cluttered desk.

**OWARI**


	8. Eighth Kiss: Our Own World

_Eighth Kiss: Our Own World_

Everyone knew who made the best buns at the cheapest price was the Li Du Bakery, a charming little hole in the wall with a pink canopy and a red stringed door chime the jingled like a twittering sparrow. Kurenai's jounin-sensei was nice enough to let them off early on account of an angry girlfriend. It was only fair to make it up to her by taking her to dinner. She skipped to the bakery run by friendly Chinese expatriates and bought an assortment of warm pork buns and chicken rolls. Her mother would have been rightly pissed had she seen the size of the paper bag Kurenai toted, but her parents were running missions and her grandmother had her Mah Jong club meet, so the Ichiraku dive was her next stop before home.

Shrimp and tofu sesame ramen was the special, and she ordered the large. Unfortunately her radar was dampened by her amiable mood and as she strolled by a large back yard bordered by a shoddy log fence she didn't see the oncoming ambush by the dogs. Kurenai could make out seven canines of varying sizes and breeds. The biggest one was a black pit bull, the golden retriever wore a tiny pair of shades and a gray one had a slight black Mohawk. She screamed pointlessly, they pushed her down with their stampeding paws attacking her packages, shredding the paper and plastic with their sharp claws and fangs wrestling over the soft noodles and buns until they were breadcrumbs and a torn foam bowl.

"HEEL! I SAID HEEL!" Someone commanded. A boy with gray hair with a dour-looking pug at his feet attempted to regain control of the situation. Kurenai pushing her back into a tree feeling her red sleeveless blouse tear on the rutted bark recognized the boy's face.

"HATAKE KAKASHI!" She rushed him and toppled him to the grass, they rolled; Kakashi was on the defensive blocking her punches with his arms. Kurenai effectively got in a few good shots to the jaw and eye. He didn't know who exactly the red-eyed girl was, but he was sorry her dinner was chewed up, but alas such was the way of women. Punching first, explanations afterward. "YOU LITTLE BASTARD! I WANT MY MONEY BACK!" She pummeled him until a pair of larger and sturdier hands hoisted her from the cringing boy. Her limbs still flailing, Kurenai did not become aware of her sudden flight until she felt her weight drag her toward earth. "S-Sakumo-sama?" She whined.

The White Fang glowered at the kids then shook his head. "Mind filling me in?"

————————

Sakumo's body language gave his son every indication that he saw the whole exchange. Kurenai flounced when Kakashi provided her with an excuse for the Ninken's misbehavior (he left the yard to use the bathroom), but offered no apology. Incensed she gave him one last shove to the grass before fleeing.

"It's not my fault!" Kakashi protested. "I left before I could stop them. I don't have eyes in the back of my head!"

"This is a prime example of your inability to control the Ninken fully, Kakashi," Sakumo reprimanded his only son. The genius boy was unperturbed however.

"I fed them their dinner earlier."

"Just because Pakkun can talk doesn't mean they're not animals." Kakashi dusted himself off and they went into town.

He found Kurenai by the lake, he was hesitant on account that her genjutsu was better than his and she may have awaiting surprises for him. Sitting on the grassy bank she looked oddly tranquil, the sun burned bright crimson before dipping into the cloudless horizon and he could tell she was working things over in her diamond-sharp mind. The crumple of a paper bag jostled her back into the real world.

"Here." The aroma of scallions, fish and chicken broth had awoken her stomach. "Was this what you ordered?" Kurenai answered him with a chilly silence. "Don't be stubborn!" Kakashi dug into his silver racing striped navy pants pockets and pulled out a wad of yen bills. "My father spoke to the baker and asked how much you paid for the buns; they were fresh out by the time we got there. It's coming out of my allowance so you can feel better now." She swiped her hand and fisted the bills shoving them into her white shinobi pouch. Kakashi had yet to apologize and she knew he never would, it was something that required the Jaws of Life to be yanked from his arrogant little mouth.

"You're such an ass Kakashi," she sighed looking at the glassy still lake, anointed with fading gold from the dying sun. Kurenai uncurled the white bag and scanned the insides. "You forgot the chopsticks, moron." His wily gray hair wilted and it was his turn to sigh.

**OWARI**


	9. Ninth Kiss: Dash

_Ninth Kiss: Dash_

"Your spelling is atrocious." Kakashi looked up from his scroll that he was wrestling out a report onto. A pair of legs propped up on a table crossed at the ankles spoke to him. He wanted to ignore Kurenai's astute barb, but couldn't pass up the chance to retort.

"If you think you could do it any better-"

"Don't you even _think _about shoving any of it onto my lap," Kurenai ruffled the newspaper she was scanning languidly, "do your own reports, for once, Hatake Kakashi." The chair screeched on the yellowing parquet and she stalked over to the coffee maker to refill her red mug. The foggy brown-stained glass pot was empty; Kurenai churned it watching the final few drops rotate at the base. She huffed and knelt down to retrieve the tea tin and kettle from the cabinet underneath. Running the tap she filled the dented green metal kettle and firing up the hotplate she sat it on the charred and scorched range. She pulled out a lemon from the fridge and dropped a slice she cut into her washed mug. Hovering over the slowly heating kettle Kurenai tilted a hip impatiently, that myth about watching water causing it to boil slower may hold some truth to it. Kakashi's warm clasp on her shoulders kneading her taut muscles got her hackles rising.

"Talk to me please."

"You do have atrocious spelling." Kurenai evaded. He leant over and kissed her one exposed shoulder.

"Wrong answer."

Since he was not willing to play nicely, she had no choice but to pull out the big guns. "When was the last time you visited his grave?" The pleasant back rub Kurenai was receiving ceased and Kakashi recoiled, but not of either disgust or anger.

"I never visited… if that makes you feel better."

_FWEEEEET!_

Kurenai turned off the hotplate and wrapped a grease-splotched pea green daisy print potholder around the kettle's handle as she filled her mug. She dropped in a rose teabag and spun facing her lover.

"Let's go after your shift is up." Kakashi's slumped shoulders rose and fell from his sigh, and plunged his hands into his pockets.

"What got you on this kick, if you don't mind me asking?" Taking her time, Kurenai decided to drag out the suspense and stirred the sugar and cream into her tea, tasting it to test the temperature.

"Gai isn't as stupid as you think."

Kakashi scratched the back of his gray head. "I never said he was," he rolled his eyes. Kurenai slit her ruby ones menacingly at him.

"He found that letter you wrote in a dumpster. If you wanted to get rid of it you should have destroyed it first." Kakashi faintly recalled scribbling a message posthumously to his father… in his atrocious spelling.

"And he came to you with this?" Kakashi's quick mind was already devising plans to exact his revenge on his eternal rival that hopefully wouldn't punt him off the mortal coil.

"You know perfectly well how I felt about your father," Kurenai snaked her arms about his neck attempting to charm Kakashi into dancing to her tune.

"Sometimes I wonder about that."

"What do you mean?"

He cupped her ass invoking a shiver to zing up her spine. "Think I don't know about that chocolate you made for him for Valentine's?"

"I was 12, _Kakashi_," Kurenai jerked a wisp of his wiry gray hair. "Ever heard of hero worship?"

"I am the jealous type," he shrugged. Kurenai shoved him.

"Nani!" He pulled her to him an effort to decrease the tension between them. "Dumbass…" Kurenai growled.

"Don't be like that," Kakashi nipped at her ear unsuccessfully. Kurenai jabbed him in the ribs with a scroll, yellowed and torn from the unkind passage of time.

"So you'll do it?"

————————

The headstone of the White Fang was ill-kept and abused by vengeful Konoha citizens. Sunken into the mossy earth obliquely, the short granite obelisk bore Hatake Sakumo's name accompanied by rust stains and a labyrinth of cracks. Chunks of the stone had been wrenched out and Kakashi toed the upturned earth with the sole of his boot, the marker was recently reset in its original position having been most likely kicked over.

Kurenai placed forget-me-not's into the conical iron vase welded onto the stone and watered it. After lighting a pair of incense sticks and a brief meditation he left his scroll by the gravesite and the couple departed. A comforting wind blew through the graveyard rolling the scroll just a touch and the old parchment crackled as the aged wax seal broke unraveling it.

'_Dad,_

_Can you understand my heart-ache?'_

**OWARI**


	10. Tenth Kiss: Number 10

**A/N: **To celebrate St. Pattie's Day I decided to include a little tune from a Gaelic folk-rock band Runrig, _This Is Not a Love Song_. Their stuff isn't available in the U.S., but if you happen to find it on a Kaaza or Limeware give it a go! They are a Scots Gael band, but I figure if the pipers can play _Scotland the Brave_ in every parade it's all good here. Oh yeah, one more plug for a cool Irish band Kíla, another one worth DLing as well.

**Disclaimer: **Nothing here belongs to me, but I trust you're all smart enough to know that.

_Tenth Kiss: #10_

She was nobody's fangirl. Kurenai wondered why suddenly the barkeep got a partner behind the oak; it was decided that she should cap it off for the evening. Feeling her feet she lurched from the table and made her way to the jukebox. The chasing red and yellow neon lights arching around its squat body made her weave from side to side, she caught the heel of her left hand on the round wood plastic finish and she rolled a yen coin into the slot. She punched a foggy clear plastic key with the number '10' flashing green.

_I could tell you about the moon_

_That's rolling 'cross the sky_

_I could show you all the stars_

_But it's much too late at night_

_I'm driving home on the silver run_

_The last to move on through_

_And this is not a love song_

_No matter what I do_

_Words are few but the heart is true_

_Still the world keeps turning round_

_For me and you_

Kurenai fell back into her booth and signaled a waitress for a refill. She knocked back the lacquer choko, the heated saké doing wonders to her insides rolling around her stomach coating it thickly. The girl set down another ceramic decanter, the steam wafting in a silver snake trail dissipating into the muggy air. The bar doors squeaked mousily and in sidled Kakashi with an unknown kunoichi in tow. The redhead linked arms with his and bounced onto a barstool crossing her legs, her black mesh skirt riding up snugly. The shorts were nothing more than a few streamers of purple ribbon crawling between her buttocks. The white lace sports bra beneath her jounin flak jacket was no better.

Kakashi ordered their drinks and perched on the stool beside her, leaned his chin on the heel of his hand as he allowed her prattling to wash over his head like water. Kurenai straightened up intent on hearing their foreplay, it was Friday and all he was interested was a few rounds of stress-alleviating sex. She allowed herself to chortle at the poor bint. Kakashi's boots never stayed on anyone's doormat longer than the night, and she would have to learn that lesson the hard way. Steam clouded her vision and things below her filled choko smeared, that particular brew was particularly strong, was all.

_If I could only make you see_

_One reason to believe_

_I would open up my heart_

_It's so easy to deceive_

_Footsteps fall through open doors_

_Across a darkened room_

_And this is not a love song_

_This is no moon in June_

_Words are few but the heart is true_

_Still the world keeps turning round_

_For me and you_

Kurenai pulled her clawing fingers from her scalp; her raven hair was knotted from her wrenching, she looked up to see those same two stools vacant. Recalling Haruno Sakura and her own genin charge, Hinata, Kurenai considered herself fortunate to have familial support. If there was a time when her confidence was shaken, there was always someone to remind her of her strength and ingenuity. Haruno's family were not ninjas thus could not advise her, Hinata was turned out of the Hyuuga compound and living with the Yuuhis until she became a ninja worthy of her family's name and bloodline. But was there ever a time when Kurenai questioned her femininity?

Realistically she had little time to while growing up and maturing. Konoha was entangled in international combat, she was sent out into the frontlines preoccupied with executing assassination missions instead of necking in the movie theatre. Her male comrades never displayed a remote sexual interest in her, Oota Yumie, the spoiled only daughter of Konoha's wealthiest silk merchant oft mocked Kurenai's team as the real 'three-_man_ cell'. Yumie later found herself near drowning in a tar pit. Kurenai was never truly comfortable in her own skin; merely she simply adapted and suffered silently. Ninjas never conveyed pain of any kind. Ninjas never got what they wanted; they were expendable regardless at how you looked at it. She truly pitied Hinata and Sakura, despite her acute dislike of the treacherous Uchiha. But there was a chance she could have ended up like Sakura and Hinata wallowing in unrequited love closing off her heart to any and all willing to love her sincerely.

_You know for you I'd give my life_

_In you I will be strong_

_We went off looking for the light_

_But it was right here all along_

_Now we wait her passing nightimes_

_Until every morning comes_

_And this is not a love song_

_This is no easy tune_

_Words are few but the heart is true_

_Still the world keeps turning round_

_For me and you_

She was nobody's fangirl.

**OWARI**


	11. Eleventh Kiss: Gardenia

**A/N: **For this next set of kisses they will feature waka (11th century Japanese poetry that was the precursor to the haiku) from Liza Dalby's historical fiction novel, _The Tale of Murasaki_. Sending waka (accompanied by a gift such as a flower) is an archaic protocol of flattery, whether it is between two friends, lovers or heads of state. Waka also are metaphorical obscuring the real message between the lines of colorful imagery. The waka that Kakashi and Kurenai are sending one another ranges from the flirtatious to the callous. Just read and judge for yourself.

**Disclaimer: **I'm lucky I have the head to write this fic let alone a whole manga series…

_Eleventh Kiss: Gardenia_

Her mother was always ready with a reprieve when Kurenai slammed doors in the house, but in her apartment she not only slammed them she kicked them, hurled kunai and cat scratched them with her key. Storming into the bathroom she ran the tap scalding and poured a generous dollop of bubble bath from the glass decanter on the vanity. Stomping back into the kitchen Kurenai ripped the gold wrapping from the five-pound box of gourmet assorted chocolates her cell chipped in to get her for Valentine's Day accompanied by the quart of Cherry Garcia buried in ice in the back of her freezer.

And to think her worst mood in months was triggered by watching the Uchiha brat burn ever gift presented to him by his legion of fangirls in the incinerator behind the academy and Kakashi utter not so much as a thank you to the groupies that clung to his circle of friends when they offer theirs. The teacher and his prodigal son. Were they ever going to learn how to be human? At least the Uzumaki kid's day was brightened when Hinata gave him his sole Valentine, she could identify with him. Now how pathetic was that? She was hardly a glamour girl in her academy days, and the boys respected her for her strength, but never would consider her as a date for the ohana matsuri. Oh what a tragic star she was born under.

Emerging from her bedroom wrapped in a thin rose terry cloth robe Kurenai realized she forgot to bring a spoon. Rummaging through the silverware drawer, stainless steel clanking around she withdrew a soup spoon and banged it shut hearing the utensils clang reproachfully. Something in her peripheral vision caught her attention and she stopped half way out the door and saw on her open window sill over the sink a package swathed in navy blue silk with a white gardenia nestled within the knot. Flinging the spoon across the melmac table she pulled down the parcel and removed the flower before undoing the knot. A scroll was unveiled and she sneered, unimpressed but hoping that the laugh she was surely to receive might liven the dejection.

_It has a reputation as a sour fruit, by anyone who sees this plum_

_would_ _surely not pass it by._

Kurenai blinked several times before full cognizance seeped in. Did he honestly think he was being cute? Seating herself at her desk she pulled out a fresh blank scroll and her writing brushes.

**TSUZUKU**


	12. Twelfth Kiss: In a Good Mood

_Twelfth Kiss: In a Good Mood_

Team 7 was just beginning to doze off baking under the afternoon sky as the sun was just reaching its precipice when a cloud of white exploded causing green leaves to scatter.

"Yo!" Sakura and Naruto sprang like jack-in-the-boxes.

"YOU'RE LATE!"

Kakashi scratched his head grinning cattily. "Well you know this stampeding horde of wildebeests-"

"USO DA!" Just then Sasuke's deadpan tone cut through the hysteria.

"Kakashi-sensei, is this yours?" He was standing under a Birchwood pointing to the tall grass surrounding the roots. Kakashi sighed, talk about spoiling the mood. Sakura and Naruto teleported beside their apathetic teammate intrigued by what he was picking up. Sasuke handed his teacher a packet wrapped in scarlet linen, Kakashi looked as though he were inspecting it for hidden explosives or testing the weight, his students were uncertain. Seeing three pairs of expectant eyes, he was not intending for his personal life to be the main topic of discussion at the Ichiraku Ramen dive. He clasped the scroll behind his back.

"Today we'll start with a little water walking exercise," he pointed in the direction of the lake. "Whoever makes it to the other side first, their lunch is on me." Naruto exploded out of existence with an ear-splitting whoop, Sakura shouted after him to grow up and Sasuke took his time. Kakashi leaned against the tree trunk hearing Naruto take a dive, Sakura cheer Sasuke on and Sasuke telling them both to shut the hell up. Dropping the red cloth to the grass, Kakashi unraveled Kurenai's scroll.

_Where did it come from? As I was wondering, the morning glory_

_flower_ _faded into pitiful nothingness._

His mood was considerably buoyant again.

**TSUZUKU**


	13. Thirteenth Kiss: Excessive Chain

_Thirteenth Kiss: Excessive Chain_

Kurenai shoved the splintering wood and foggy glass door to her office open with her ass and heaved the last of the files she would have to pour over the weekend atop her desk. The red plastic pencil cup clatter to the floor, stubbed pencils and dried-up pens spilled over the scuffed avocado and chalk checkerboard parquet. She could give a rat's ass at the moment and dumped herself into the chair. Propping her elbows on her frayed blotter she rested her head in her hands for a moment of blessed respite.

The scrollcase lay behind her nameplate. Inhaling deeply Kurenai turned the long, cylindrical thing in her hands repeatedly. It was made of black leather and if she wanted to open it, there was an unknown length of chain to get through. The chrome glinted in the dying sunlight like a steel whip and she spent nearly five minutes unwinding it. It was so long, the thing fell over either edges of her desk. She uncurled the parchment and read Kakashi's bit of retribution.

_When the breeze swirls up from the valley to scatter the blossoms on_

_the_ _mountainside, you may be sure the frozen waters will melt._

The kunoichi's cheeks glowed something powerful and Kurenai steadily set the scroll down. Her shoulders trembled and her breasts heaved unevenly with long breaths. Kurenai bawled a belly laugh that gave a pair of chuunin passersby in the corridors pause before her door and moved on charily. So giddy was she that she didn't see the door fling open and Anko barge in.

"Hey girlie, thought we might go for a-" Anko's speech came to a screeching halt when she saw her friend dissolved in tears and pounding her fists in hysterics. "…I was gonna say a drink, but looks like I got here too late…"

**TSUZUKU**

**A/N: **What's so funny you ask? The Japanese words for "melted" and "frozen" are _tokeru _and _musubu_. It can also connote "tied" and "unbound" since traditional kimonos are held together by cords, the poem could suggest, "you surely will be undressed again." And the final waka after this should bring our KakaKure fans a bit of closure.


	14. 14th Kiss: Radio cassette Player

_Fourteenth Kiss: Radio cassette Player_

Scrunching his face in the wicked 7 a.m. blinding sunlight, Kakashi thought it wise to invest in black curtains. His arm fell on the drafting warmth of a now vacant half of the mattress. Punctuality was a conformist's delight and obsession. Didn't Kurenai figure out that teaching her adorable little students a bit of patience can inspire teamwork? To each their own, Kakashi turned over to press his naked face into the tuberose scent of the pillow she slept on preparing to drift away himself when something hard jammed in his side. Not wanting to bother sitting up he felt around beneath him and produced a cassette tape.

"Nan da?" Fuzzily he reached over to the right hand night stand sitting beside Mr. Ukki was his clock radio, he slid the tape into the slot and hit play. There was a crackle of distortion and the shuffle of paper before Kurenai cleared her throat and started speaking.

"_Hidden away, damp with grateful tears, I and the root have today_

_both_ _been drawn out by you."_

**OWARI**


	15. 15th Kiss: Perfect Blue

**A/N: **Wondering why the only thing you're seeing is this author's note? Well, that's because our webmaster is a pussy and instead of fighting for his rights to free speech on the internet, he folds over and prohibits NC-17 fics. It's a good thing that pages like Mediaminer, Adultfanfiction (.) net, LJ, GJ, Blurty, Ficwad, fosff (.) net and Deviantart exist so we can be as perverse as we want (aside from a guy and a girl in the missionary in the dark on their honeymoon scenario)! So here's the KakaKure lemon you've been waiting for and I hope you all enjoy just hit up kurenaiqueen (.) deviantart (.) com and click on my deviations list. Oh yeah, if you leave a review don't do it here, review on DA.

**Disclaimer: **If I was God they would be doing this for real in the series.

**Shameless self-promotion: **On the pages I mentioned above you can find my accounts under the names Ishida Miyako, Saoirse, amalthearain, morrigantempt, and faarlahime. If you want to chat, my AIM is SilverErieann.

_Fifteenth Kiss: Perfect Blue_


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